Henry Jackson Society

The Henry Jackson Society(HJS) is a British neocon think tank and political action committee. HJS was founded in Cambridge, England, on March 11, 2005, and was launched in the Houses of Parliament, on November 22, 2005, by Dr. Brendan Simms of Cambridge University in honor of the late Henry 'Scoop' Jackson, the Democratic Senator from Washington state, renowned for championing the right of Jewish emigration from the USSR to Israel.

The Society, a think tank and political action committee, is based at the University of Cambridge and aims to promote 'democratic geopolitics'. Many of its supporters are among the most powerful people in Britain and the United States, including the former directors of the MI6 and CIA, the former President of Lithuania, a reem of British MPs, and a number of editorial staff from various newspapers. The secretive nature of the society is perhaps evidence of its considerable political influence.

CSC merger
On 6 April 2011, the HJS announced that the Centre for Social Cohesion and HJS would be merging. The press release also announced: "Centre for Social Cohesion Director Douglas Murray will also be joining the Henry Jackson Society as Associate Director."

Signatories of the Statement of Principles

 * Michael Ancram QC MP, Member of Parliament for Devizes
 * Gerard Baker, Assistant Editor, The Times
 * Paul Beaver, Special Advisor to the Parliamentary Defence Committee; Director, Beaver Westminster Ltd.
 * Paul Bew, Professor of Politics, Queen’s University, Belfast
 * Nicholas Boles, Director, Policy Exchange
 * Colonel Tim Collins, Commander, First Battalion Royal Irish Regiment, Iraq 2003
 * Paul Cornish, Carrington Professor of International Security, RIIA
 * Richard Dearlove, Master of Pembroke College; Former Head of MI6
 * Major-General John Drewienkiewicz, Military Advisor to the High Representative for Bosnia
 * Mark Etherington, Civil Governor, Wasit (Kut) province, Iraq, 2003-2004
 * Michael Gove, MPMember of Parliament for Surrey Heath; Shadow Minister for Housing
 * Robert Halfon, Political Director, Conservative Friends of Israel
 * Oliver Kamm, Columnist, The Times
 * Jackie Lawrence, Former Member of Parliament for Preseli Pembrokeshire
 * Denis MacShane MP, Member of Parliament for Rotherham
 * Jan Mortier, Associate of the Council for a Community of Democracies
 * Fionnuala Jay O'Boyle MBE, Director, Jay Associates
 * Andrew Lever, University of Cambridge
 * Stephen Pollard, Columnist, The Times
 * Lord Powell of Bayswater, Personal Advisor to the Prime Minister for Defence and Security, 1984-1991
 * Andrew Roberts, Author, Journalist and Television Presenter
 * Jamie Shea, Deputy Assistant Secretary General for External Relations, NATO
 * Irwin Stelzer, Director of Economic Policy Studies, Hudson Institute
 * Gisela Stuart MP, Member of Parliament for Birmingham Edgbaston; Member of the Parliamentary Foreign Affairs Committee
 * David Trimble, Former Member of Parliament for Upper Bann; Winner of Nobel Peace Prize
 * Edward Vaizey MP, Member of Parliament for Wantage
 * David Willetts MP, Member of Parliament for Havant; Shadow Education Secretary

Source: Henry Jackson Society Signatories of the Statement of Principles.

Organising Committee/Key Personnel

 * Brendan Simms, Co-President
 * Alan Mendoza, Co-President
 * Douglas Murray – Associate Director (as of April 2011 -- HJS press release)
 * James Rogers, Executive secretary
 * Gideon Mailer, Secretary
 * Matthew Jamison, Media Secretary

Members

 * Michael Gove
 * Gisela Stuart, Labour MP

International Patrons

 * Bruce P. Jackson, President, The Project on Transitional Democracies
 * Robert Kagan, Senior Associate, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
 * William Kristol, Editor, The Weekly Standard
 * Vytautas Landsbergis, Former President of Lithuania
 * Clifford D. May, President, Foundation for the Defense of Democracies
 * Michael McFaul, Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution; Senior Advisor, National Democratic Institute
 * Joshua Muravchik, Resident Scholar, American Enterprise Institute
 * Richard N. Perle, Former American Assistant Secretary of Defense
 * General Jack Sheehan, Former NATO Supreme Allied Commander, Atlantic
 * R. James Woolsey, Jr., Former Director of the CIA

Affiliations

 * Just Journalism – HJS and JJ attend each other's events and co-promote/host others

Contact details

 * c/o Dr. Brendan Simms
 * The Henry Jackson Society
 * Peterhouse
 * Cambridge  CB2 1RD
 * United Kingdom
 * Website: www.henryjacksonsociety.org

SourceWatch resources

 * Committee on the Present Danger
 * Henry M. Jackson Foundation
 * Project for the New American Century

Profiles

 * Henry Jackson Society Project for Democratic Geopolitics, Powerbase.
 * Henry Jackson Society in the Wikipedia.
 * The Henry Jackson Society, Guardian (UK).
 * NGO Coalition Member: Campaign for a UN Democracy Caucus.

Articles & Commentary

 * Beth B. Alexander, "'Crying Wolf' over the neoconservatives," UPI (Washington Times), November 22, 2004.
 * Oliver Kamm, "Recalling Scoop Jackson," Oliver Kamm Blog, April 14, 2005.
 * David Clark, "The neconservative temptation beckoning Britain's bitter liberals. For leftists divided by Iraq, tomorrow's launch of a rightwing political society could be a transforming moment," Guardian (UK), November 21, 2005.
 * "The launch of The Henry Jackson Society," tygerland, November 21, 2005.
 * "The Henry Jackson Society: The high priests of British Neoconservatism," tygerland, February 07, 2006.
 * Ros Taylor, "Inside the hawks' nest," Guardian (UK) News Blog, November 22, 2005.
 * Euan MacDonald, "New neo-conservative society launched in UK," The TransAtlantic Assembly Blog, November 23, 2005.
 * "Don't blame 'Scoop' for the neocons," Guardian (UK), November 23, 2005.
 * Stephen Pollard, "What’s left, right, centre and neocon all over. A new group shows that the old party political divides have broken down," (The Sunday) Times Online (UK), November 27, 2005. (NB: Pollard is one of the signatories of the HJS's principles. However, the article has no acknowledgement of this important simple fact.)
 * Oliver Kamm, "Henry Jackson's legacy," Oliver Kamm Blog, November 28, 2005.
 * Editorial: "Henry Jackson Society = World War Three," Irish Political Review, December 2005.
 * Osama Saeed, "Much to be afraid of in David Cameron," Rolled-up Trousers, December 7, 2005.
 * James Heartfield, "Humanitarian interventionists dig in. In his new book Anti-Totalitarianism, Oliver Kamm makes a shrill and inconsistent defence of the Iraq war," Spiked Online, December 16, 2005.
 * John Feffer, "To Link or Not to Link: The Human Rights Question in North Korea," Foreign Policy in Focus, December 19, 2005.
 * Fran Kelly, "New Life for Neoconservatism?" ABC Radio News (Australia), January 6, 2006.
 * Cédric Housez, "The London-Washington Axis Called Into Question," Bella Ciao, January 7, 2006.
 * Gisela Stuart, "Finding Neo. Gisela Stuart argues for a robust foreign policy," Progress (UK), January/February 2006.
 * "Iran - The Media Fall Into Line" Media Lens, February 9, 2006. (Info on some of the HJS signatories.)
 * Julia Pettengill, "Don’t Forget 'The Other Iraq': Why the US and UK should do more to support Iraqi Kurdistan," Henry Jackson Society, August 2, 2008.